OD/Distortion Pedal for Paul Gilbert

Looking for a higher gain OD/distortion pedal to round out my pedal board. Right now I have:

Sparkle Drive: Clean w/ a bit of an edge
Paisley Drive: mild overdrive for country
TS9: rock, leads

I need something with more gain, but I don't want it to sound "metal-ish". I was watching some Paul Gilbert vids this weekend and he seems to have that very tight hi-gain sound with clarity for speed-picking. That's what I'm looking for.

I've considered a Wampler Pinnacle - would that get me there? Other than that, I know PG has used an AC Booster and an RC booster.

Thanks!

Paul is listed as a user of the MXR Custom Bad Ass 78 distortion on JimDunlop.com. Maybe give that a go??

At the very beginning, there was a Marshall. Back in the Racer X and early days of Mr. Big, he was an ADA guy. Then he moved onto Lee Jackson (and Metaltronix) amps. These were basically modded JCM 800 circuits. During the majority of his solo career, he was using the Laney VH series amps. Once again, these were kinda in the same ball park as the 800 series. Today, he is back to using Marshalls. The strange thing is that Paul is using pickups that have more in common with single coils than the old Dimarzio buckers that he was most known for.

Anyhow, Paul has said that he wants his distorted tone to be like Blackout by the Scorpions. Most of the time he will EQ his rig to get him in the ballpark of that tone. I kinda do the same thing when I set up my rig. Ha. Its just one of the many things that I rip off from Paul. Don't forget that Paul also has his own line of ODs today (The Magic Box Paul Gilbert Fuzz Universe). He uses this pedal when he needs a gain boost. I have never seen him use the above listed MXR pedal.

For the perfect PG rig:

Guitar of your choice > 90 MXR Phase > ADA Flanger > Detox EQ> Magic Box > Marshall-type amp

The Detox EQ is a strange one. Basically, he uses it as a cut. So rather than stepping on an OD for gain, he will use this to cut signal and boost the treble to create a cleaner signal. Its an anti-gain pedal! Ha. This doesn't get much use with Mr Big, but it is important to his solo rig. The reason being that he gets his gain from pedals rather than the amp when playing solo. This is because he often has to use a rented backline rather than his own amps when doing clinics.

After all that, what do I recommend besides a Marshall?
PROCO RAT

Yeah I have no idea if or how much Paul uses the MXR Bad Ass, I just remember seeing him listed as a user.

-Okko Diablo..has good power, but, pricey....I think OD gain is in the ear of the beholder
anyway...some like a fuzz edge, some like a grit edge, some smooth...some piercing

The strange thing is that Paul is using pickups that have more in common with single coils than the old Dimarzio buckers that he was most known for.

Paul has been on a quest to get more and more note definition as the years have gone on, and simply dropping the gain seems to only gotten him so far.

The new Injector pickups seem mostly based off the Area-series "single-ish" coils. IMO, part of the reason that they work for the "buckers with articulation crowd" is that they tend to give them the best of both worlds; a bit of bucker compression and some emphasis on the fundamental as opposed to the harmonics, with the higher resonant dominant frequency and brilliant upper order stuff of a nice and spanky "real" single coil.

Oz Noy uses the Area-series for more trad sounding Strat tones, and IMO his tone is to die for. He also has to rely on a backline for many of his gigs, so pickups -> pedals -> unknown amp is a setup that those DiMarzio pickups seem to excel at, or at least be a "really good current compromise."

I still use the old tech DiMarzio HS-series, and I love them, especially with dirt boxes. They simply go places that buckers will not.

...he gets his gain from pedals rather than the amp...

That just reinforces his odd choice of pickups for a "shredder guy, IMO."

PROCO RAT

+1. And speaking of shredders and the Rat pedal, one of my fave tunes is Buckethead's Brewer in the Air. Why? It's in standard tuning (well, Eb - big whoop compared to all this dropped A-C stuff), and it sounds like "the old Buckethead," when he was primarily using a Rat into something like a Peavey Renown, of all things. It's not overly shreddy-flashy, nice balance back and forth between just an instrumental rock number with some growl and then laid back portions.

...Anyway, I love the tones on Brewer in the Air. It doesn't sound like a wall of stereo panned Rectos with dropped A tuning, with a 27" scale length custom LP. It sounds like a Rat with a bit of self restraint (for a shredder guy) cutting back the distortion on the pedal.

Yeah, a bit thin/buzzy here and there, but it doesn't turn my guts to mush like shredder stuff with nu-metal amps/tunings.

Probably super cheez-o in the context of this forum, but I'm including a video (which is just the studio recording with a still image).

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And here's the song live, with the LP'enstein and a pair of those friggin' Rectos. Really grumbly, nasty. Me no like. Funnily enough, he's not in Eb for this one. Could just be the crap live recording, but I like the studio album tones, and to me, they say "RAT."

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Apologies for the "shred cheezo factor" in this stuff. :oops:

See if you can find one of the older 24 volt Option 5 Destination Overdrive pedals. That is a very open natural sounding high gain distortion pedal with a three band EQ that comes in very handy.

I've seen PG playing a Silvertone guitar through a small combo amp playing with the Electric Fence and it still sounded killer! Sometimes it's the player himself more than his gear.

The latest video I just happened to see the other day (I randomly watch rig videos) had him using a block logo Distortion + MXR. He also uses a Green Rhino at times according to the video.

Can someone post the video of PG playing an MXR distortion pedal? I can't seem to find it but it has been mentioned twice in the thread.

He has a rotating OD spot on the pedal board. It is basically an extra spot on the Voodoo Lab Power Supply. :lol: I have seen him use the Green Rhino there in the past, but its not really a go-to pedal for him.

This is the most recent one (Mr. Big)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFE2YKMjs2U

This is even more recent than the PG vid and where he uses the MXR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lHFeogmnuQ

Oh I see. Its the same rig as the earlier US leg of the tour, but he has the MXR in the random spot. He is calling it the "pot luck" spot! :lol:

He seems like a pretty down-to-earth, cool guy. He's also an amazing guitar player.

one of my fave tunes is Buckethead's Brewer in the Air.

Rumor used to have it that Buckethead IS Paul Gilbert..... Now I'm not saying, I'm just saying......

That rumour is wrong. Buckethead is Brian Patrick Carroll. He is a former student at GIT and probably studied under Paul (and numerous other shred legends) when he attended classes back in the 80s.

They are both great players, but you can hear their differences in phrasing regardless of how many thousands of notes that fly by!

He seems like a pretty down-to-earth, cool guy. He's also an amazing guitar player.

I met him at GIT. He is a very friendly guy and quite funny as well.

I met him at GIT. He is a very friendly guy and quite funny as well.

I'd have to say that he is one of the best with these interviews. Very relaxed, easily understood, good sense of humor, no ego, and he has an accurate grip on what his gear does. That is really rare.

Steve Morse is another guy like that, and I'm sure there are others, but they are few and far between.

That rumour is wrong. Buckethead is Brian Patrick Carroll. He is a former student at GIT and probably studied under Paul (and numerous other shred legends) when he attended classes back in the 80s.

Brian's biggest influence was probably Shawn Lane. If you go to around 4:50 in this video, you can hear where Brian got some of his licks from:

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But when you said "Rat" in a PG thread, I had to put Buckethead in here, knowing that Brian got training from Paul, and used a Rat for the bulk of his dirt tones in "the early days," before he did the GnR tours, before he got the funds to get the Mesa amps and other stuff. There's no Rectos on Bucketheadland (I), Monsters & Robots, etc. Around Kaleiodscalp, the super de-tuning and Slipknot-esque amp sounds appeared. Along with all these weird electronic fart noises and stuff. I'm glad he's eased up on some of that stuff.

...But I would LOVE if BH would just go back to playing his cleaner amps, and using the Rat instead. He used a 2204 on the earlier stuff, too.

Guys like Paul and Brian represent the "fun side" of shredmania IMO. Some of those guys are so into themselves, whether they are aware of it or not. But not those two. And shred need not be just lots of distortion or metal-esque, either. The Shawn Lane video above represents that, to some extent.

Some of those guys are so into themselves, whether they are aware of it or not.

Everything I learned about how to treat vocalists, keyboardists, bass players and drummers, I learned from Yngwie. :lol:

UNLEASH THE FURY!

PS - I actually love the Malm to death, but he must have been who you were thinking of in regards to the above quote.

This is even more recent than the PG vid and where he uses the MXR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lHFeogmnuQ

Wicked interview, thanks for the link!

Malm...must have been who you were thinking of in regards to the above quote.

There are actually others, although he does have some...qualities. I'm not saying any of them aren't nice guys (although I am sure folks could point to some).

But when I say "into themselves," I mean as far as it becoming something more than it is. Unless you are a guitar player audience member, it doesn't take that much for it to get redundant or fatiguing for the average listener (or so they swear, when they say that!).

But there are other high profile shredders who kinda wax metaphysical when it IMO rarely reaches that level, no disrespect to their playing intended.

The "into themselves thing" does somewhat become physically manifested when they are almost speaking of their rig in the third person:

"To get that jaw dropping tone, you start with the signature _______ guitar, with the new (he just switched pickup companies again) _________ signature __________ pickups, then use the signature __________ pedal to push solos over the top, and putting it through these signature ___________ amps is what it takes to really get those killer tones that I made on that album."

With some interviews, it's almost silly to discuss their gear, because it's all custom made for them. They could just start out by saying that nothing is off the shelf.

Even though PG has the sig flanger, he doesn't seem to push it very hard. Also ironic in that pedalboard rundown that the one he rotates out was a Tubescreamer clone, when he is an "Ibanez guy".

And again with PG, you get a sense that it's just an application of gear, even if it's well thought out, even if stuff was specially made (at least initially) for him. I get the feeling that he could swap a bunch of it, and it wouldn't matter.

"To get that jaw dropping tone, you start with the signature Fender Yngwie Malmsteen guitar, with the new signature Dimar--- Err, Seymour Duncan Fury pickups, then use the signature DOD YJM-308 pedal to push solos over the top, and putting it through these signature Marshall YJM100 amps is what it takes to really get those killer tones that I made on that album."

- Yngwie Malemsteen (and Joe Stump, Chris Impellitteri, Dean Cascione, etc, etc etc)

the new signature Dimar--- Err, Seymour Duncan Fury pickups...

He was recently interviewed somewhere regarding his rig, and he literally said that the Fury pickups were necessary for his sound.

What is funny is that for another video where a couple of guys were demo-ing the YJM amp, they were using an older YJM guitar with the HS-3/YJM's in it, and they were saying that the DiMarzios were necessary with that amp...

What many of these guys won't admit is that some of those albums sounded fantastic because the musicians were young and hungry, and they had a good hand from a producer that kept things from sounding like crap. And they oftentimes wouldn't be caught dead using half the gear that was on the first or 2nd breakthrough album, because that was all they could beg/borrow/steal to get.

Don't get me wrong - guys like Steve Blucher are great for helping these guys out, and Ibanez caters to them well, too (and many other companies). But it's custom tailored, so the chance of it "fitting" for someone else is ludicrous. It's a big bum steer, IMO.

Again, to make it relevant to this thread, Mr. Gilbert isn't like that. His "OD pedal slot" is his "heavy rotation slot." I love how in that video he said that he only used the Green Rhino for 15 minutes, but people who've been eyeballing the GR might only come away with something like, "PG had a GR on his board, so 'nuff said! I'm gettin' one!"

Also amusing - I saw a video with Mr. Fury (hate to keep using him as an example), and he had a Fuzz Face next to his pedalboard. When asked what he used it for, his reply was that it wasn't hooked up - it just looks cool - it looks like a land mine! :shock:

Yngwie sounds like himself on everything he plays through. I have heard him live through a string of Marshalls and I have heard him live through a Fender Roc Pro. Pure Yngwie either way. Its not his gear. Its his note choice, phrasing, attitude, etc. This is often what I think people mean when they say that "tone is in the fingers."

The only thing essential to Yngwie's tone is for him to have both hands free (and a nearby land mine :lol:).

Well that settles it, I'm going to quit reading this thread and go out to get the new Yngwie Malmsteen Marshall stack... Finally I understand what I have been missing all these years!

Well that settles it, I'm going to quit reading this thread and go out to get the new Yngwie Malmsteen Marshall stack... Finally I understand what I have been missing all these years!

Well...if you really want to do it right, you're going to need to get a Ferrari, too. And a castle, and...

Haha, I love what these threads turn into. I love Paul Gilbert - seems so down to earth and like he'd be a fun guy to hang out with. And just a ridiculous guitar player.

I am a firm believer in the "tone is all in the fingers" concept - I'd like to think I sound like "me" through all the different incarnations of rigs I've had over the years. What I'm getting at is the "sound" of the tone. After experimenting last night I think all I really need is another tubescreamer-like pedal. I like having mine set now to be a good topoff for my country/rock leads, but if I crank the gain all the way it works for PG stuff.

Keep the suggestions coming - I originally thought the Wampler Pinnacle, but maybe the Plextortion would be the way to go. I've heard it's sort of a one-trick pony though (but it's a great trick, I bet!).

Haha, I love what these threads turn into.

Sorry for all the diversions. It just highlights more IMO that PG is a cut or three above some of these other guys (and gals), and it's cool to have a discussion about musicians like that.

Sorry for all the diversions. It just highlights more IMO that PG is a cut or three above some of these other guys (and gals), and it's cool to have a discussion about musicians like that.

I totally agree man. He's just sick. One of those people that both inspires you to pick up your guitar or quit playing forever!

At the end of the day, no one is gonna be better than Paul. He will cut the head off anyone that decides to challenge him! Its his attitude and love of music that makes him an inspiration, but its his technique that makes him terrifying!

Well said!